The Pandemic Has Only Magnified Pre-Existing Problems

This year has been brutal. Almost everyone I speak to talks about how they can’t wait to see the end of 2020 and the start of 2021. (As if by some magic, our realities are all going to change at the stroke of midnight on 1 January. And as if we didn’t say exactly the same thing about 2019. And 2018, and 2017 and so on….)

Most of us are feeling frazzled, forlorn and frayed around the edges.

Covid-19 has been an enormous contributor to our exhaustion and overwhelm, but in many instances this pesky pandemic hasn’t created the emotional and energetic challenges that people have been faced with in this time as much as it has magnified them.

Poverty and inequality have become more observable. Corruption and dishonesty are more obviously apparent. Those of us who were already anxious have become more anxious. Relationships that were already strained were put under more pressure. Those people who already struggled with boundaries and self-care – the ones who are highly others-centred – are crawling towards the holidays with absolutely no reserves to draw on. Exhaustion and overwhelm have become more acute.

The fault-lines that have been there all along have been exacerbated by the pressure of the pandemic.

One of the frailties that has come to light is how we spend our resources. Not just our material resources but also the less tangible resources of time and energy. Despite having supposedly fewer demands on our time, most of us are more exhausted working from home than we were in the olden, pre-pandemic, days. People are depleted, drained and depressed. If we don’t do something substantial to change how we spend our energy, burnout, compassion fatigue and emotional overwhelm are all going to be more prevalent and more serious in the months to come.

It is possible to take action to reverse, prevent and recover from burnout . It requires a commitment to paying attention to how and where (and why) we choose to spend our energy. Just like time and money, we have a finite amount of energy and when we spend too much of it on the wrong things we don’t have enough to spend in the right things.

Think about how you use your energy in a typical day. How many of the things you are doing feel rewarding and energising? And how many feel draining and depressing? Obviously we can’t only be doing the fun stuff all day, but if the balance is consistently out – if we do more that drains us than energises us day after day – we will become burned out and depressed.

When you aren’t:

• Getting enough rest
• Working sensible hours
• Taking proper lunch breaks
• Asking for help
• Saying no things that are wrong for you
• Taking time out for yourself
• Checking in with your body every day…

…you aren’t spending your energy wisely.

While we can’t control what happens with Covid-19 or the economy or climate change or politics, we can certainly influence how we spend our own time and energy. By being mindful and planning what we do, when and how we do it and who we do it with, we can help ourselves to conserve our precious resources, enhance our relationships, and improve our own well-being – in the new year and beyond.

If you’d like some help with planning how to spend your energy, my annual Plan to Spend Your Energy Wisely workshop will be running online in late January.